


The Technomancers

by Ariss_Tenoh



Series: The Technomancers [1]
Category: CLAMP - Works, Clover - CLAMP, The Matrix (Movies), X -エックス- | X/1999
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Complete, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-27
Packaged: 2018-01-26 19:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1699754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariss_Tenoh/pseuds/Ariss_Tenoh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The games we play with each other and with ourselves. In the end, which of us won?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Technomancers

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on June 6th 2011.

Subaru closes his eyes and he allows himself to fall.

 

The feelings are sharp as a knife and bitter-sweet as an old memory and each time he experiences them it feels like the first time. Fear, loss of control, loss of balance, panic, and then freedom so sweet and exhilarating his entire being screams silently in ecstasy.

 

He opens his eyes. Slowly. Cautiously. Savouring the sensation of being whole and one.

 

Paper doors stand stark white before him, framed by light-coloured wood. He pushes the doors open, they slide to each side, and he walks through them. The floor plan is simple and elegant. A traditional Japanese house from long ago; the attention to detail is meticulous, conveying the authenticity of the place and time-line, yet there are whimsical touches betraying its maker. The small, red, fabric ball rolling across the floor as if a child's hand just dropped it, the flower slowly wilting in the vase over at the table by the corner, the pillows near the door to the gardens lay in disarray as if its owner threw them there in a moment of unplanned haste. Little hints whispering softly to him about their creator. Subaru cannot help but smile when he sees them. He glances down at his clothes which have been melting and solidifying ever since he stepped into the house.

 

As he opens the last shoji door, he is wearing a silk kimono robe of many layers all in the gradual hues of autumn red and earthy brown.

 

"Seishirou-san," Subaru greets the man seated behind the low table. The affection in his voice wars with the frustrated amusement that exhibits itself when dealing with a wilful acquaintance.

 

"Subaru-kun, do come in," the older man says. A smile ever present on his lips, though in this instance it seeps into his mismatched eyes as well.

 

Subaru steps into the room and finds his feet enveloped in soft white socks to complete his traditional attire. He kneels and sits at the table. Seishirou, resplendent in a black and gold kimono, pours green tea into a delicate tea cup. He pushes it toward Subaru. Subaru accepts and holds the cup in his hands, savouring its heat.

 

"It feels so real," Subaru comments.

 

Seishirou pours himself a cup. "Who is to say that it isn't?" he replies.

 

"We're not going to discuss existentialism again are we?" Subaru says and sips his tea. The austere surroundings of the Washitsu affect him as always and he can feel peace and serenity slowly enter him.

 

"Only if you insist," Seishirou demurs.

 

Green eyes lift their gaze from the steaming green tea to look at Seishirou; their owner seems very old all of a sudden.

 

"Why do you play this game, Seishirou-san?"

 

"Don't you mean why do _we_ play this game?" Seishirou tilts his head to the side, the very picture of innocence and polite inquiry.

 

Subaru knows the man is not innocent, though unfailingly polite.

 

The serenity of the room becomes oppressive and silence pushes her heavy self, an unwelcomed third party, into the room.

 

Seishirou looks to the side and Subaru sees a Go set he is certain wasn't there a moment ago. The board's surface is covered with round white and black stones; it takes him a moment to realise both sides have reached a stalemate. Seishirou now looks at Subaru and reaches into a small wooden bowl filled with black stones and places one stone on the board. The move forces Subaru to raise his own hand, a similar bowl with white stones appears beside him, and he places a white stone to oppose Seishirou's move.

 

" _This_ is why we play, Subaru-kun."

 

The man's voice almost shames Subaru but he is used to it; it is inevitable at their meetings.

 

The only sounds in the room from then on are the smooth surfaces of the Go stones hitting the board, giving off a crack-like sound.. like miniature thunder. The white stones are surrounded; Subaru loses this match though he knows his heart wasn't in it from the beginning. He arrived heavy with weariness and that is never a good condition in which to meet the man called The Hunter. So he isn't surprised when Seishirou pushes the Go board aside and reaches for him, Subaru's kimono sleeve catches on the table and upsets its balance, a tea cup falls to the tatami floor and stains it in a slowly expanding pool. Subaru glimpses it from the corner of his eye and again admires his opponent's care and attention to detail.

 

He yields when Seishirou pushes him down and captures his lips in a bruising kiss that turns soft, seduction after conquest.

 

Outside the Japanese house, long extinct Sakura trees bloom in a violent riot of pink and white. The serrated petals may fall with the wind currently shaking the trees but they do so at their own pace, falling in a long intricate spiral before they touch upon the ground. The pink petals appear to mimic Subaru's hands pushed against their will (is it so?) to the floor, palms against the tatami mats.......

 

............... When Subaru opens his eyes and allows himself to rise, the harsh glare of the metal walls and floors blind him. He blinks and hears the machine disengage from the plug at the back of his head, near his spine. The evidence of his exertions on his body tells him he didn't dream the encounter or if he dreamed it then it was achingly real.

 

He blinks back the tears and pushes himself off the arm rests of the Dive Chair. Subaru stands and looks at his hands; a phantom pain surrounds his wrists from the other's strong grip. The same torrent of emotions wash through him after every meeting: soul-deep pain, acid shame, coy lust, and a searing sense of longing he hesitates to name for fear he'll give it life. His knees protest but he walks toward his room to clean up and hide. He passes by a broken mirror someone had hung in the corridor; it reflects back his tired face and faded grey shirt and pants. Subaru quickly looks away because he'll wish he was back in that illusory room if he stares too long at that reflection. He rationalizes every meeting with Seishirou with the same thought: there are only two Technomancers in the world who can weave the Matrix to their will and travel through it freely. Perhaps it was Fate that they meet, be on opposite sides of this war, and be drawn to one another with irresistible force.

 

Whatever force it is binding them together, Subaru only knows this: it can't be broken without the death of either of them. He wonders if he would survive it.

 

~ End ~

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, there are elements borrowed from The Matrix films with touches from Clover and Ghost in the Shell. I find this crossover universe fascinating and may revisit it.
> 
> Shoji: Japanese paper screen doors.  
> Tatami: straw mat used as flooring material.  
> Washitsu: Japanese-style room.  
> Go: Chinese strategy game. Wikipedia has more info.


End file.
